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Strife/Issue 08
Issue 08 is the second issue of Volume 02 of Strife, It was written by CamTheWoot and was published on July 14th, 2014. ---- Issue 08 Previous: Issue 07 Next: Issue 09 ---- Rook ---- Maurice Rook had began to notice a theme in his daily activities, they all centered around sitting and doing nothing. He planned to take this up with Rowena when he got back. It had been a few hours since Vincent and Nancy emerged from under the ground. Yet he was still in that abandoned corner shop, forced to keep watch whilst the others rested under the moonlight. Wayne and Duncan had hardly moved from where they were before, but yet they slept like babies against the walls. Nancy was curled up in a corner, away from everyone else, Rook assumed it was out of fear that one of the Mitchell's would try it on with her when she was too dozy to know or care. She must have been the quietest sleeper there, all other at least gave breath, but Nancy was completely mute. "You alright?" A voice came out, breaking the silence. Rook snapped to attention, like a watch dog whose name had been called. He looked round to see Vincent walking over to him. "You seem a little tired?" "Any idea what time it is?" "I don't know, do I look like Patrick to you?" Vincent replied, sitting down opposite Rook. He let out a deep exhale as he took of his broken glasses. "What a fucking day." "I'm sorry you didn't find Lawrence." "Don't be, it's not like it's your fault. I never expected to find him y'know? Getting sent out here, no information given, asked to find one man at the end of the world. I'm just glad I didn't find his body." "We all are, trust me. I'll be honest, none of us really liked him, he treated Wayne and Duncan liked crap, he bossed Nancy around, he was just a general prick." Rook looked down with his head in his hands. "God, I hope he's okay." "You don't need to tell me twice, I was an active member of the 'Lawrence, can you stop being such a prickly twat' club." "Oh really?" Rook said with a grin. "I always thought you were the president." Vincent, in turn replied with a smile, then another sigh. "I had allot riding on this. Rowena was going to give me a job for this, I can't imagine she'll consider it when we come back empty handed." "It's hardly your fault we didn't find him. A promise is a promise, Rowena may be... difficult, but she keeps to her word. You'll still get this 'job' of yours - I guarantee it." "You can say that all you like, but you didn't grow up with Rowena. She hides it well but at her roots, she's a sadist and nothing more. Lawrence not coming back just gives her an excuse." Vincent looked around the room, focusing on Nancy in the corner, Rook turned around also. "Especially her." Rook slammed his hands done onto his lap, diverting his grin. As if to say 'That's enough of that', it was no use though, Vincent was on a tangent and he wasn't going to be stopped. "Did I ever tell you about Rowena and Dad?" He asked. "No- no you didn't." "Well, I suppose you can be thankful you never met my lovely father. All jokes aside, he was a cunt. A really cruel and bitter old prick." "Nice happy family," Rook snickered. "Rowena takes after him, she was a spitting image of Dad growing up. Y'know, everything Rowena's done - I can forgive, her scare tactics, her blackmail, forcing peoples hand. Playing all of us like we're pawns on a fucking chess board, but I can never forgive what she and Dad did to Patrick." "Patrick?" Vincent sneered and begun to search his own memories, looking for a specific event. "The two of them ruined him, Pat wasn't always the timid little wallflower he is now, they made him like that. Hell, the day he came out the closet, dear old Dad beat him half to death, broke him arm, gave him that pretty dent in the side of his head." "Why?!" Rook gasped, in pure shock. "Why the hell would he do that? Didn't Rowena help? What about you or Lawrence?" "I was at University when it happened, Lawrence was up in police training and Rowena - well... Patrick claims she didn't know. That's a load of bollocks though, Dad was mid fifties at this point, the crooked old bastard walked with a limp, like he could put that much hurt on a nimble sixteen year old. I say, Rowena held him down." Rook sat back, lightly shaking his head. "Jesus." "I rarely saw Dad, even as a child. I could go weeks without hearing a word from him, Rowena was his eyes and ears, his sentinel. She would always be standing outside his office like a good little soldier, mediating what was worth his time and what wasn't. Of course, nothing was. Patrick getting into Cambridge certainly wasn't." "Patrick was in Cambridge?" "Patrick was a star student, he finished his medical degree with ninety-six percent. Lad's a bally genius." "Never heard you speak so highly of him," Rook lightly sneered. "I give credit where it's due. He's a cowardly, squeamish little girl, but he smart." "Smarter than you?" "Now let's not go too far, I'm still the most qualified in the family." Vincent silently laughed. "So I've got some news for you," Rook said, leaning forward. "Oh this ought to be good, go on then." "So, you know I've been keeping the calender, right?" Vincent slowly nodded his head, Rook could tell he knew nothing of this, but he decided to continue. "Anyway, so, since it's past twelve that makes it the fifteenth of August today." Vincent leant back in somewhat amusement. "So, I'm thirty-two tomorrow then?" He got up, with a darkness about him. He turned to Rook as he walked and said, "I think I'm going to have another shot at sleep." "Alright then," he replied, feeling somewhat guilty. Surely his age didn't upset him that much? So once again Rook sat alone, he stared over at Vincent, curled up and shivering in the corner, he looked pathetic, like a dog thrown out into the rain. ---- Vincent ---- “Come on Daddy, it’s only ‘round the corner!” That voice kept echoing to him, ringing his ears. Vincent Myers was alone, in the darkness, half drowning from the rain. He recognized the tombstones surrounding him and his walked trough great fields of dying grass. “I said that he was wrong and then I told him the truth,” the same voice called. Sounding through the fields. Vincent stopped, the wind blew through him as he looked up at the dark sky. "Alice?" He muttered, scanning the area around him. "Don't worry Daddy," the voice giggled. "I'll get uncle Patrick!" Vincent turned around as I light came towards him. A pair of headlamps, with a grey truck behind them speeding towards him. "ALICE NO!" He screamed as he fell into darkness, eventually woken by a shaking. "Mister Myers?" A soft mans voice woke him from his ghastly nightmare. Vincent opened his eyes in a sweat, a short man was neat black hair stood over him, the early morning light gleaming off his glasses. "You alright?" "Morning David," Vincent growled. He recognized the man as David Perkins a leader of one of Rowena's various scout groups. He was well dressed for someone out in the dirt. Wearing a jet black leather jacket over his clean white shirt, his bright blue jeans had not a spec of mud upon them, nor did his black trainers. He reached his hand out to Vincent and pulled him onto his feet. "It's good see you mate," David replied, shaking Vincent's hand, like long lost friends. "Where's everyone else?" Vincent asked as he looked around the now empty room. "Rook and Nancy are outside with Noreen and Nara. The Mitchell's are probably having a smoke 'round the back with Jarrod." Vincent grumbled, adjusting his eyes to the sunlight. "Why does that not surprise me?" "What can I say? There's very little to do nowadays." David laughed, every time Vincent came across David Perkins, he always wondered how one men could be co consistently happy. Every word his uttered had a cheer to it, it was a nice change to the chronic depression he was used to. "So what are you doing out here then? I thought 'she who must be obeyed' would never let you out the pen?" "I'm guessing you haven't heard about Lawrence?" David moved back a bit, a pending look of sadness on his face. "Oh no, what happened?" "Rowena sent him out on a run a few days ago, on his own. He never came back." David held his hands over his head, deeply exhaling as he walked to the open door. "Our group is always shrinking. How long until there's nothing left?" "Lawrence could come back." "Yeah, yeah he could. Jesus Christ, I hope he does. I really like the guy." Vincent followed him out, into the open streets. The horde had moved on and the stone was still damp form the rain. A large rainbow shone above them in the sky. Nancy and Rook were standing over by the opposite building. Vincent recognized the two women standing next to them instantly. The tall Korean woman in the loose white t-shirt, that could only be Nara, Larson's older sister. She nodded at him and gave him a grin. The other woman wasn't nearly as gracious. An elderly looking woman, who clearly appeared more aged than she was. With her grey hair strung into a pony-tail under a white hat. For someone only a little taller than Nancy, she could glare a whole right through him. Surely this was Noreen McNalley, even though Vincent respected her, she glared at him as he approached. "Look who I found," David chuckled. Nancy smiled, breathing heavily and quickly joined Vincent's side, earning him a raised eyebrow from Rook, even Noreen cracked a smile. "Always nice to see young love," she said. With that Nancy awkwardly shuffled away from Vincent. "I think you ruined it," Rook whispered. "There was nothing to ruin," Vincent sighed. "You two are like a couple of teenage girls." "A couple of teenage girls who are much more perceptive than you it seems." Vincent gave a short glare at her, only receiving a sardonic smile from Noreen and a chuckle from Rook. He could tell David was holding in some kind of response. He moved away from them, Nancy and Noreen were talking just around the corner. "Hello Vincent," Nara said. Vincent gave her a nod in reply as he walked over. "I was just asking Nancy if she'd seen Larson in the last few days." "And I haven't," Nancy replied coldly. "Well there's no point asking me, Rowena never lets me out of my cell." Nara had a look of sadness about her, she bit her lip visibly trying not to cry. "No-one has, I'm worried about him." "Jesus, Nara. How long have you lot been out here?" "A week? Maybe two?" She replied, Vincent's attention was drawn to Nancy who was giving him a strange look. "Nara would you mind giving us a second I private?" She said. Nara agreed and joined the others. "That was rude," Vincent said. "This is important," she rasped, grabbing him by the arm. "Jarrod and the Mitchell's were in your flat!" "What?! Why?" "Duncan mentioned you were out here looking for Lawrence and they decided to go in and look." "And... What did they find?" "Nothing," she said with relief. "They questioned why your flat was drenched in blood, but Lawrence wasn't there. He must have crawled out and joined the horde." "Good," Vincent replied, stroking his chin. "I'm sure it will be reported to Rowena. If anything this helps us." "True, I just thought you should know." She said, walking past Vincent and joining the others. "Alright lads," David said, as the group came together. Even Wayne, Duncan and another man came out of the shadows. A complete giant of a man, with a short blonde beard and long blonde dreadlocks, the size of his muscles matched his height. "We've still got work to do out here, but we're going to escort Vincent and the others back. We're also going to be keeping a special eye open for Lawrence while we're out." "That's really not necessary," Vincent interrupted. "We can easily find our own way home." "Oh please, if Rowena found out I ran into you and didn't help you home. We'd all be locked up for a week. We're taking you to the tower, end of story." Vincent shrugged it off and joined the others on the way back. He always enjoyed the new London, if he were ever honest he would confess that he preferred it to the old one. Above all he hated the crowds, the people, the smell. All of that was gone now, all accept the people, he looked at Wayne, Duncan and Jarrod, who fit in surprisingly well with them, despite him being a head and shoulders above them. "You know lads, my last pack of cigs aint bottomless," Jarrod laughed, scratching the dandruff from his beard. "You pricks are running me dry, you two need to see a fukin' shrink or something, you're addicted." "Nah dude, come on." Duncan shrugged. "At least I'm bein' manly with what I put in my mouth, not like I'm going full Patrick or anything." "I have trouble believing it," Nancy sneered from the other side of the group. "Swing round my place a little later and we can discuss what goes in our mouths in grater detail." Duncan replied causing Nancy to role her eyes. "Nice," Wayne muttered sardonically. "What ever happened to oh bangin' Nancy would be creepy, she looks fourteen?" He whispered just loud enough for the people around him to hear, including Vincent who was trailing behind them. "Dude shut up, change of heart and shit, I'm trying to get some here." He turned to Nancy, with a grin cheaper than is aftershave. "Come on baby, I'm packing a Johnny with your name on it." "My name has five letters, Duncan, I don't think there's enough room on your Johnny." She replied with a smirk, earning a loud guffawing from the rest of the group, especially Wayne, while Duncan continued on red faced. "Oh, nice try bro, maybe next time." Wayne laughed, nearly out of breath. Duncan was suspiciously silent with no response. "I think you hurt his ego," Noreen giggled. Vincent looked forward, he could see the Tower of London in the distance, standing tall and strong, with guards perched on every wall. It was an intimidating sight as they all got closer. "It reminds me of castle Greyskull." David laughed. "I'll never get over the fact that I live in a fortress." Within little time they were at the door to the tower, a giant wooden gate of iron bars, almost twenty feet tall. "Open sesame," Vincent muttered. "I'll handle this boss," Wayne said stepping forward. "OI KAY," he screamed through the bars. "OPEN THE GATE AND WHAT NOT, YOU SEXY BEAST!" "You Mitchell's really know how to sweet talk a lady." Said Rook, crossing him arms. "What's that Rook, I can't hear you, my girlfriend is too loud. If you're such a fucking womanizer why aren't you hitched?" "I was married you smug prick," Rook said in a rasp. Easily shutting Wayne up, not before the gate opened, with only one person standing at the other side, Barnes Fooks. The winds flew through his brown tweed jacket and long grey hair. "Welcome back," he said. "Nara, sad to inform you that Larson got into a fight with Mitch, he's staying with Patrick. I believe he has a couple of broken ribs." He still spoke in that patronizing, grizzly German voice that Vincent hated so much. "Oh God," Nara gasped as she ran past him. "I'm sure he'll be okay, Mitch didn't hit him too hard." Barnes murmured. "That wasn't necessary Barnes, you didn't need to drop that on her as soon as we arrived." David said, in a stern voice. "Es tut mir leid," he shrugged. "I thought she'd want to know." "I thought it was that you just like hurting peoples feelings." Vincent sneered, passing the Mitchell's. "You're one to talk Mister Myers," Barnes scorned, looking around the group. "I don't see Lawrence with you." "That's because we didn't find him." "Ever so sorry to hear that." "I'm sure you are, who will bully people for you and Rowena now?" Vincent gestured to the rest of the group as they passed Barnes and entered the tower. Barnes grabbed Vincent's arm tightly preventing him from following them. "Oh Fooksy, you really are frisky today." "Vincent you're not going anywhere, I need to speak with you." He spoke with much bile and there was a look of pure hatred on his face. "I have a question for you." "Can it wait Barnes, I really need to check in with Rowena?" "One of my Rifles is missing, Lawrence took it on his run with him." Barnes interrupted. "Large hunting rifle, wooden base, slight skewed scope. There's no chance you came across it?" "Not me personally, but Nancy found a rifle in my flat. Could that be what you were looking for?" "So you found a rifle... and you just decided to leave it there?" "What can I say? Talk to Nancy not me, maybe it fit well with the room, Nancy is one for home decor." "I don't believe you Vincent, I think you found Lawrence... and killed him, I know what kind of man you are." Vincent gave a short chuckle before releasing himself from Barnes' grasp. "Do you now?" He mocked, "do you really?" he approached Barnes, grabbing him by the scruff of his collar and pulling the old man towards him. "Then you are a very stupid old man, because... let's say I am the kind of man you think. Men like that a rather menacing, men like that don't appreciate senile, vulturous old skeletons like you presuming to know who they are." "But you're not that kind of man, are you?" Barnes rasped, sweating in a mix of fear and rage, the two of them kept in eye contact, with a true fire between them, a real hatred. Vincent let go of him, with a condescending smile plastered on his face. "No, no I'm not. Now if you'll excuse me, I need to go and see Rowena, report my findings." "I'm going to need my guns back," Barnes said, grasping his somewhat bruised neck. "I'll send Nancy around with your precious guns, don't worry. Please try your best not to molest her, she's a lovely young lass, it really would be a shame." He chuckled to himself and turned around, flashing Barnes a two fingered salute as he walked away. "Bye bye, fräulein." To be continued... ---- Characters ---- Vincent Myers Nancy Brodmir Maurice Rook Wayne Mitchell Duncan Mitchell Barnes Fooks David Perkins Noreen McNalley Jarrod Nara Alice Myers (Apparition) Lawrence Myers (Mentioned) Rowena Myers (Mentioned) Arthur Myers (Mentioned) Larson (Mentioned) Mitch (Mentioned) Kay (Mentioned) ---- Deaths ---- ---- Trivia First appearance of David Perkins. First appearance of Noreen McNalley First appearance of Jarrod First appearance of Nara First mention of Kay Patrick Myers is revealed to be homosexual in this issue. Category:Issues Category:Strife Issues Category:Strife Category:Pestilence Category:CamTheWoot